We at AOPA-Germany have pointed out, in a detailed study, that General Aviation (GA) – the individual traffic component of aviation – is responsible for about 8,000 jobs in Germany. It creates €1 billion of revenue (amounting to five per cent of the total German aviation revenue) through private and business transportation, aerial work, medevacs, civil government flights and air-sports.

More than 54 per cent of the revenue GA accrues is through business travel and aerial work, followed by private travel (15 per cent), air-sports (9 per cent) and other activities amounting to about 20 per cent.

Although these figures suggest that GA is dominated by commercial activities, it is still being treated by politicians as economically unimportant, being viewed as just a hobby or recreational aviation –

rich men’s toys.

However, in today’s growing Europe the need for GA is increasing. Paris, London and Frankfurt can all be reached by businessmen in one working day using major commercial airlines, but how can we establish reasonably fast connections between remote areas in Europe, such as Magdeburg in Germany, Brno in the Czech Republic or Gdansk in Poland?

Cars, trains and major airlines are not up to it; GA aircraft are the ones to do the job.

The benefits of GA aircraft are numerous. They are not scheduled and, therefore, are the most flexible form of aviation. They are fast, provide access to hundreds of small airfields, offer privacy for business meetings and, last but not least, are very safe means of transportation.

The US is a comparable size to today’s Europe, yet its business and private aircraft have, for decades, been well-established and are commonly accepted as a means of transportation. In the US, the number of GA aircraft per inhabitant is almost eight times higher than in Germany or the UK.

In Germany, bureaucracy is stifling the whole economy. Only big companies with strong political lobbying power are able to defend themselves and attract publicity, and the politicians are scared of losing voters. German GA, with its 8,000 jobs in small- and medium-sized companies, is being completely ignored.

An example of this is the traffic policy in Berlin, which does not even mention GA in its concepts; only a few federal states include GA in their infrastructural planning. This results in uncoordinated subsidies being granted to some regional airfields and manufacturers, coupled with a policy of chaotic restrictions for the use of such subsidised airfields and aircraft. Lahr airfield, for example, received subsidies to build a cargo terminal but then the ministry of finance withdrew customs service from the airfield.

Additional factors, including new security legislation, threaten to stress GA beyond its capabilities:

– no small airfields can actually afford to have the same security standards as an international airport;

– taxes on fuel for private flights have reached €1.70 per litre, whereas commercial aviation fuel is tax free. Also, no significant share of the collected taxes are flowing back into GA, funding the weather services or ATC;

– in Germany, training for instrument rating takes an incredibly long time because the IFR training syllabus contains unimportant ballast such as the wiring of ADFs. Consequently, only three per cent of German private pilots hold an instrument rating.

In the US, the IFR syllabus is much more focused on real scenarios, and the share of private holders of instrument ratings is about 50 per cent and the rate of weather-related accidents is much lower.

We at AOPA-Germany request that German and European politicians take a closer look at GA. We see enormous undeveloped potential that could be set free easliy and without any subsidies. Thousands of new jobs could be created, bringing millions of euros in additional revenue.

All that is required for GA to prosper is a political concept with clearly defined objectives, its recognition as a viable means of transportation and the withdrawal of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens.

Dr. Michael Erb Md, AOPA-Germany